QTS Triathlon Series Race 7 Raby Bay – 1st

The last few weeks of training have all been in preparation for Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay. With race day just 2 weeks away I thought that the QTS event at Raby Bay over the sprint distance would be the perfect opportunity to brush up on my speed. Even though I now focus on the longer race distances I think that it is still important to race a couple of sprint distance races every season in order to work on my top end race speed. The great thing about racing at home is that I can jump on my bike on race morning and use the 30min ride to the race venue as a good pre race warm up. I also had the opportunity to hand out the finishers’ medals to many of the kids competing in the ‘Kool Kids’ triathlon event which is always enjoyable.

Race Day:

I started the race hard and quickly went about trying to establish myself at the front of the race. I managed to get the lead quickly and pushed the pace to make it hard for the others behind to keep up. Even though it was only a 750 meter swim leg I still opted to wear my Orca RS1 swim skin for the time savings I find it provides me with. 

I exited the water in first with Kane Richards and Jack Hickey just behind. I exited transition a few seconds behind Kane & Jack after a slower than usual transition. In these shorter races there is no room for error and the few seconds I lost at this point of the race set me back before heading out onto the 20 kilometer bike leg.  

I was looking forward to getting onto the bike course which is quite technical with lots of corners and gradual ups and downs making it challenging to get into any kind of rhythm. The wind had also picked up which was just another added challenge to the bike leg. 

Kane and Jack rode the first 5km loop at a very solid tempo and it took me until the 6 kilometer mark to make my way back into the lead after my slow transition. Once I hit the lead I lifted the tempo with only Kane able to keep up. Overall I felt that the pace during the bike leg was solid but never out of my comfort zone. I kept a close eye on my Specialized Quarq power meter data and upon finishing the 20 kilometer cycle leg I had kept an average speed of 41kph and 357 watt average power (normalized power).

I had a great bike to run transition and immediately set out at a fast tempo keen to really push hard and see what kind of time I could run. 

I have really been working a lot on my running in training and wanted to use the 5 kilometre run leg as a test to see how fast I could go while still remaining under my red zone. I was surprised to feel as good as I did on the run and was able to extend my lead over the rest of the field. 

Coming across the finishing line in 1^st was a great feeling and a really good sign that things are well on track for my next big race at Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay in 2 weeks time.